Hoi3 counter espionage9/14/2023 ![]() ![]() Jonathan Turley, a lawyer who defended Trump in his first impeachment trial, reminds us that the Espionage Act was passed to “crackdown on political dissidents,” particularly those who were opposed to World War One. Former president Donald Trump is guilty of numerous acts of obstruction of justice and theft and retention of government property, but he shouldn’t be tried under the Espionage Act. Julian Assange is facing charges under the Espionage Act, and former Times’ reporter James Risen was charged for doing his job. Whistleblowers Chelsea Manning and Reality Winner were tried under the Act and received long prison sentences. The Obama administration invoked the Espionage Act more than any other administration in history. Fortunately, the Nixon administration’s illegal harassment of Ellsberg led a federal judge to dismiss all charges against him because of “gross prosecutorial misconduct” so severe as to “offend the sense of justice.” Under the Espionage Act of 1917, Ellsberg could have faced a faced a potential 115-year prison sentence. Ellsberg abandoned these ideas Nixon and Kissinger held on to them much to our peril. At the time, Ellsberg was a Cold War hawk and introduced the notion of irrational posturing in global affairs, which Nixon and Kissinger applied in policies toward Vietnam and Cambodia. Ironically, Ellsberg had established himself as a national security expert in the 1950s, when he lectured to Professor Kissinger’s seminar at Harvard. history, was labeled America’s “most dangerous man” by President Richard Nixon and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, which tells you a great deal about the two war criminals responsible for needless deaths in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Chile. It warned about the dangers of nuclear proliferation and mutual assured destruction as well as the most dangerous arms buildup in the history of civilization.Įllsberg, the greatest whistleblower in U.S. His memoir, “The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear Planner,” was far more consequential than the Pentagon Papers. When he completed his work in exposing the immorality of the Vietnam War, Ellsberg focused on warning the American people about the dangers of nuclear weaponry and the militarization of national security policy. The Times’ Abe Rosenthal and the Post’s Ben Bradlee did the right thing, but Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee William Fulbright and other senators had panicked and returned the papers to Ellsberg, refusing to make them public. He exposed the mendacity of the Johnson and Nixon administrations, giving the New York Timesand the Washington Post the Pentagon Papers, which they published. Ellsberg’s resolve and tenacity were unusual. Photograph Source: Ben Schumin – CC BY-SA 2.0ĭaniel Ellsberg’s courage and contributions should be honored by abrogating the Espionage Act of 1917, which was designed to stifle his example of dissent and whistleblowing. ![]()
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